from then to now
by barretone
Summary: let's see how far we've come [1sentence challenge; beat/rhyme, incest warning]


**Disclaimer:** No ownership over TWEWY.  
**Notes:** Prompts taken from the Epsilon table at the 1sentence livejournal comm. Some sentences really push the T rating.

* * *

**Motion  
**She's fascinated by him, by the way he never seems to stop moving, by the way his legs keep propelling him forward and forward, and she's having a hard time keeping up, but it's exhilarating and she can't help but smile when Beat calls out to her to hurry up.

**Stop**  
And she appreciates how when he _does _stop, it's to make sure she can catch up.

**History**  
It _hurts_ to hear her talk about her childhood memories with her brother (_their _memories), but her face's the happiest he's seen it since they've been in this goddamn game, so he grins and bears it, pretends he's not the brother she's talking about, ignore the splinters being driven further and further into his heart.

**Shadow**  
She's uneasy when she thinks about her brother, finding herself picturing Beat's widespread grin more and more, while details of her brother's face keep fading away, and she's afraid she might forget him altogether.

**Gentle  
**777's heard the rumors about the rough and tough freshmeat that's joined up recently, but when he goes to see for himself, he's taken aback by the sight of a simple delinquent punk teenager just rubbing the belly of a pink squirrel-like noise with a relaxed smile on his face.

**Sudden  
**When she wakes up from a long sleep, she barely has time to take in her surroundings before she hears a loud "_RHYME!_" and she sees Beat (brother, _her _brother) in front of her for a quick second before he suddenly pulls her into a bear hug and swings her around in a circle, and all she feels is dizziness and the tears staining her shirt.

**Thousand**  
He holds her, so afraid to let go and find this to be a messed-up dream, and he never stops saying _I'm sorry I'm so sorry for everything Rhyme I'm so sorry oh God I'm sorry _and he can't stop pouring out thousands and thousands of apologies through the tears and the laughter cracked with relief and joy.

**One  
**She stops him by taking his face in her hands, and it takes one smile from her for him to know the dream is _real,_ and for that moment they don't care about the people they're scaring as their cheers and hollers echo in the underpass.

**Safe  
**When he introduces Rhyme to people, he opens his mouth and hesitates for a split second before he remembers they're out of the game, and then he grins wide enough to split his face as he goes ahead and says, "This is my sister, Rhyme."

**Cool  
**She knows people are capable of turning 180 degrees, but she's still surprised for the first few days they're back and Beat smiles and hugs her and walks her to school every day, in comparison to the way he used to shut her out, going off on his own all the time, hardly ever looking at her, but she finds this is a new change she could get used to fast.

**Command**  
It's a good thing that Rhyme could be so stubborn, with the way she always came after him no matter what, despite his repeated commands to _stop and leave me alone_; if she'd given up on him like everyone else, he doesn't know where he'd be and the thought's scary as hell.

**Blur  
**He knows the nightmare of that accident will continue haunting him, but if there's one thing he hates, it's how everything is always blurred around the edges _except_ for Rhyme's lifeless face staring right into him, always the last thing he sees before he wakes up drenched in his sweat.

**Goodbye**  
He holds her tight at random times whenever he's suddenly gripped by the fear that she could disappear out of nowhere right in front of him without a chance to say goodbye.

**Mad**  
When she's mad, she makes this stern pouty face that makes him laugh 'cause it's cute as hell and he can't help but grin and poke her cheek a lil' bit; when she's really mad, she has a glare that makes his blood run cold, his laughter nervously fading until he forgets what he was laughing about in the first place.

**Ghost  
**_Okay_, in hindsight, after a night of watching a horror movie that sent Beat flying into her lap and squeezing the breath out of her, it _probably_ was a bad idea to go to him, while he happened to be up getting some water, at midnight in the middle of a dark hallway while wearing one of his big white t-shirts.

**Change  
**There's something in him that's changing, and it _scares _him to put a name on the feeling he gets when he sees Rhyme growing up with every day, getting more and more radiant, until he finds that it's hard to stop looking at her, hard to hold down a thumping in his heart when she smiles at him, hard to ease the nausea and the thrill in him when she gives him a quick hug and kiss on the cheek before going to school.

**Book  
**He knows this reading homework is important, but within the last hour, he's only made it through two pages because he can hear Rhyme singing as she cooks dinner and he can't bring himself to just move to his room.

**Picture  
**Beat would get so mad if he knew, but Rhyme keeps a picture of the time Eri and Shiki somehow managed to get him into a frilly gothic lolita dress, and it makes her giggle whenever she looks at the embarrassed way he tries to block his face with his hand.

**Precious  
**She can't help it if she gets a warm fuzzy feeling that spreads through her whole body, straight to her toes, when she sees him flustered and blushing and _adorable_.

**Wrong  
**He knows there's something wrong with him when every time a girl kisses him he goes numb, and all he can think about is how he'd rather be at home with Rhyme as she tells him about her day and he listens to her every word with a smile.

**Vision  
**He knows there's something _really_ wrong with him when he closes his eyes and replaces the girl in front of him with Rhyme, pictures _Rhyme's_ lips on his, and how it makes things a hell lot easier and a hell lot harder all at once.

**Wait**  
_Patience is a virtue_, she keeps reminding herself as she tries to settle down a tight feeling in her chest and restrain herself from looking out the window again for a brother who's taking longer than usual to get back from his date.

**Wall  
**He doesn't tell her how he busted up his hand, keeping up the "I fell off the rails" excuse he knows she doesn't believe because he hasn't slipped up like that in years; he doesn't tell her about how he skated somewhere far from home, how he thought of her with her new _boyfriend_ and slammed his fist into a brick wall.

**King  
**"Beat, 'king me' is for checkers, not chess."

**Attention  
**It's really freakin' awkward when every girl he dates complains about how much he hugs his sister and gives her cheek kisses while barely holding their hand for ten seconds.

**Torn  
**He's just broken up with another girl and she just broke up with her first boyfriend of three weeks, and they're not sure how to admit that they're not all that broken up about it, how they prefer giving each other and being given comfort they don't really need as they lay on the couch together for an episode of Tin Pin Slammurai.

**Need  
**"I jus' need someone to get that I got limits to wha' I can actually do, that I ain't cut out for college, someone who listens and understands, like you, ya know?" and when he looks at her and sees the way a smile slowly lights up on her face, heat rushes to his cheeks fast and he quickly blurts out that he needs to go to bed.

**Sing  
**Halfway through Beat beatboxing and singing along to terrible rap songs on the radio, she's in danger of falling off her chair from laughter, and though her cheeks _hurt, _she tries to rap along too, even making turntable motions, and it isn't long until they both hit the floor together hard in one big _THUMP_, alarming their parents, who rush to the kitchen to find their children in convulsions.

**Harm  
**She knows it's not good to hide things like being bullied, but every time Beat finds out about it, he throws himself into fights with everyone who dares hurting her, getting beat up in return, and that makes her feel worse because the last thing she wants is Beat getting hurt because of her.

**Eye**  
Black eyes hurt like a _bitch_, and Beat keeps wincing with every attempt to try and open it up even a little, but Rhyme tends to him by getting an ice pack and giving him a gentle kiss, and he finds it's not so bad.

**Wash  
**Rhyme's here on a mission, and she takes a deep breath before opening his door; later, Beat comes home to find Rhyme in his room with a stern look and a giant basket full of dirty laundry in danger of overflowing because it's been two months and enough is _enough_.

**Learn  
**Rhyme comforts him over another break-up he's not actually upset about, and she hugs and tells him gently that _it's not fair to you or these girls, you should save yourself for someone you truly do care about_, before he can think (because he's never learned to think before he acts), he's pulled her face to his and their lips touch and they both stop thinking in that moment.

**Hunger  
**He would've stopped sooner, but he's surprised to find that, instead of pushing him away, she presses closer, and gradually, they let themselves nurse a hunger that's sat within them for far too long.

**Last**  
When they finally pull away, walls have been broken down and everything they've held back for years comes flooding out, and they wonder how they've lasted this long.

**Never  
**"I tried, man, I did, but I could never make myself feel the same way they did 'bout me," he says with his head pressed against her shoulder, rubbing her back while she tries to stop crying, "going out wit' 'em never made things anymore right; the main problem was that they just wasn't you."

**Hold  
**He kisses her tears and hugs her tight as she lays in his bed for the first time in a while, and they sleep better than they have in a long time, content with the knowledge that something was _right_.

**Naked  
**Seeing his sister naked when she's, like, three is one thing 'cause it's not like he remembers anything from then; it's another thing when she's eighteen and she's undressing him while he does the same for her, and his heart is clogging up his throat and he can't stop his hands from shaking the closer they get to the hooks of her bra.

**Power  
**He knows he's clumsy, he knows he doesn't know his own strength at times, he knows he rushes into things and never thinks before he does, but that night he tries his very best to be gentle, always hesitant, always asking for her okay, keeps asking even when she does give her okay, just to be sure, until she finally pushes against him, kisses him deeply, repeatedly, until he _knows_ for sure it's _okay_.

**Time  
**When he wakes up in the morning to Rhyme huddled close to his side, he takes a quick look through groggy eyes at the alarm clock that reads an hour 'til work before he takes it and lays it face down and goes back to sleep with his arm around her, as if ignoring the time could stretch out the morning longer.

**Soul  
**She takes comfort in that knowledge that the soul never really goes away as she holds Beat's hand and smiles up at him with the hope that they'll still be together on the other side.

**God  
**"Man, prissy boy may be God an' all, but after shit like killin' Phones an' tryin' destroy Shibuya, I don't think he's got any right to judge whetha _we're_ wrong or not."

**Drive**  
The first thing Beat does when he gets his new motorcycle is challenge Neku and Shiki to a race, and so he's zooming fast on a peaceful highway while Rhyme holds onto him tight and laughs from behind her helmet as she takes quick glances back at a fired up Shiki driving with a terrified Neku in the passenger seat.

**Bother**  
When his mother nags him for the millionth time to find someone to settle down with and take care of him (because God knows he's not exactly gonna make six figures as a ramen chef in an old run-down restaurant), he's learned how to tune her out because he's long resigned to the fact it's impossible for him to try and picture himself living life with anyone other than Rhyme.

**Fool**  
The 'rents could yell about how much of an idiot he is all they want, but he thinks they ain't much better, from the way they _still_ haven't caught on to him and Rhyme, and it's then he understands and appreciates the meaning behind _ignorance is bliss_.

**Fortune  
**"Yeah, I ain't got a college education like Mom and Pops wanted me to get, but no matter what they say, I'm livin' the good life; I got me a sweet job where I get to make ramen every day, I got pals like Phones and Shiki, and most o' all, I got you, Rhyme, so it's all good."

**Hide  
**On the rare occasions where they can take a vacation, they go somewhere far, far away from Shibuya, places where nobody recognizes them, places where they can hold hands on the streets and kiss without taking mind of disapproving eyes, places where they don't have to hide love behind closed doors.

**Child  
**He notices the way she looks at Neku and Shiki cradling their new child, with the way her eyes were soft and longing, and he pulls her close to him, gently stroking her shoulder as she lays her head on his chest.

**Young  
**When they're little, no one bat an eye at them holding hands in public, and their parents would only chuckle when six-year-old Beat carried Rhyme like a princess and declared that they're gonna get married.

**Now  
**When they're older, they have to be careful not to let their parents catch on and keep making up excuses as to why they aren't planning on getting married to someone who's not blood-related.

**Believe  
**"Yo, I may not know much, but I believe in wha' I _do _know; I know that I make some of the best damn ramen in Shibuya, I know that Neku ain't gonna let me take his daughter anywhere _near _a skate park for the next twenty years or so, and I know that I love you like crazy, that I wouldn't trade you for anythin'."


End file.
